Trump says he will sign an executive order to give 'Dreamers' a pathway to citizenship

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would sign an executive order to give "Dreamers" a pathway to citizenship, although an administration official quickly issued a statement that seemed to walk that back.

The president made the announcement Friday while speaking with the Telemundo network.

"And I'm going to be over the next few weeks, signing an immigration bill, a lot of people don't know about it, you have breaking news, but I am signing a big immigration bill," said Trump.

"This is an executive order?" asked anchor Jose Diaz-Balart.

"Do a big executive order, I have the power to do it as president, and I'm gonna make DACA a part of it, but we put it, and then we're probably gonna be taking it out," he added.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, stands for the Obama-era executive order that was meant to provide a quasi-legal status to those who were brought into the country illegally as children.

"One of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA. We are going to have a road to citizenship," Trump said.

The president went on to say that he, and a lot of Republicans, will be happy to give a road to citizenship to DACA recipients.

According to writer Ryan James Girdusky who spoke to Trump administration sources, the order would rescind DACA and replace it with a merit-based immigration program.

"The [executive order] does not include a path to immigration for DACA recipients... because it's entirely illegal. The Trump Administration is still working on rescinding DACA," tweeted Girdusky.

"This [executive order] is going to be all merit based immigration prioritizing based on skill," he added.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has released an immigration plan that would provide citizenship for up to 11 million illegal aliens.

Here's the video of his comments: